Switchgears designed as withdrawable-unit systems are known from the prior art. These have inserts (insert modules) for the individual outgoing circuits, the inserts containing the corresponding protection and control devices for connected loads. These protection and control devices are increasingly integrated in a parameterizable (“smart”) device, which simultaneously has a communication interface to a superordinate control system. The devices communicate via a field bus system, such as for example PROFIBUS, or another communication network that preferably operates according to the Industrial Ethernet standard, such as for example PROFINET, and are identified via a unique address within this system or network. This communication address is set up directly in the device in the form of a parameter, e.g. with the help of software.
The parameters, and therefore also the address, are stored in the device itself. Either a replaceable storage device, which is provided as load memory in addition to the actual device memory, for example in the form of a memory module, memory card, or similar, is used for this purpose, or the device is parameterized by way of software or using a so-called addressing plug. The parameters are then automatically taken over from the addressing plug or the storage device when the device is started up.
The still unpublished German patent application 10 2010 032 033.1 discloses a control device of an electrical low-voltage switchgear. When the control device, which is designed as an insert module, is pushed into the insert shaft, the configuration data and/or operating parameters of the control device or electric load that are stored in the storage device are automatically read into the control device upon contact. This ensures that an insert module or the associated control device, which may for example be an engine management system, always automatically receives the bus address and parameter data provided for this insert shaft.
It is necessary to ensure that the storage device is always read in upon activation. If there is a malfunction in the storage device or in the connection between the storage device and the control device, and the data cannot be read in, the control device must trigger a fault, e.g. “storage device not present”, and is not allowed to start up.
This described function should however be used only for some of applications. For other applications, according to the current state of the art there is no storage device present and the data is stored in the control device and activated upon start-up. The data is thus assigned to the insert module and not to the insert shaft. The user must ensure, before the insert makes contact, that the correct data is loaded in the control device. The control device may not display a “storage device not present” fault in this operating mode.